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Apparently, Fatty from the Bash Street Kids is no longer going to be referred to as Fatty (old news I know), and it's created a minor stushie in some circles as many former readers are against it. (Will Spotty be next to lose his nickname I wonder?) The argument (as I understand it) is that it's to prevent the possibility of kids in the real world being influenced by The Beano into calling fat kids 'fatty' just because a comics character has the name. So DCT's flagship weekly title wants to set a positive example, and Fatty will no longer be referred to by his affectionate (and accurate) long-standing appellation.
Parity suggests that if something can have a positive example, then it can also have a negative one as, basically, they're two sides of the same coin (or mirror images of one another). I've long allowed for the possibility of certain comics potentially being able to set a bad example as well as a good one (or even none at all). Not because there's anything intrinsically harmful in the medium itself, as it's more a case of the content than the carton, but there's always the chance of kids being influenced by what they read (and see, and watch, and experience, etc.,) as they're particularly susceptible to suggestion.
So DCT have now acknowledged this with their 'rebranding' decision, and that means some of those who argue in defence of such a change, despite their prior protestations that comics could never influence readers negatively, have implicitly admitted they were wrong in believing such a thing, though most likely they're unaware of the dichotomy between the two views. My own opinion is that fat kids (and adults) are always going to be called fatty, with or without any possible influence by a comic, so it's basically just another bit of self-righteous virtue signalling by the pompous. (Or simply a publicity move to draw fresh attention to the comic, which sells a tiny fraction of what it sold in its heyday.)
He'll always be Fatty to me. What's your view?
I've always wondered what "the not as slim as his friends"'s real name was. Perhaps we can look forward to finding out the real identities of all the other Bash Street Kids
ReplyDelete...... WTF .....Really?
Danny - Daniel Deathshed Morgan
Erbert - Herbert Henry Hoove
Fatty - Frederick Brown
Until mid-May 2021, he was nicknamed "Fatty", but was renamed "Freddy" in an attempt
to stop children using the name as an insult for overweight peers
Plug - Percival Plugsley
Sid - Sidney Pye
Smiffy - Aristotle Smiffy
Spotty - James Cameron
Toots - Kate Pye
Wil - Wilfrid Wimble
Danny - Daniel Morgan
Cuthbert - Cuthbert Jason Cringeworthy
Are these PC SJW bastards going to leave anything of my childhood left untouched? Oh well at least I can still watch The Lone Ranger on Talking Pictures TV. Sadness like a shroud envelops me.......
It seems unlikely, Glas. They won't be happy 'til they've remade the world in their own image - small, and unrepresentative of the majority as that is. Mind you, there are quite a few fat people who work on The Beano, so that probably explains their attitude. People who were 'bullied' at school getting their own back.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they don’t make him slim then that seems an ok move to me at least, he is still fat he is just called Freddy now and “Fatty’” is pretty old and daft name even for a kids comic strip. I do think that Spotty’s name is in many ways worse as are some others as well(“Toots”) but they probably won’t be changed. I think rightly or wrongly it was probably a well-meaning change that gave the Beano a good bit of much needed publicity. Anyway the Fatty you knew is long gone as didn’t the Beano say that the current Denis is the child of the Dennis we read (or more likely that would be his grandson!!) so if that is the case then Fatty from the 1960s is either dead from diabetes or a stroke or is the father/grandfather of the new Freddy etc. I think it’s strange how we both see things differently you see it as “ They won't be happy 'til they've remade the world in their own image “ while I see it as certain areas of the UK press going totally overboard on something beyond trivial with full colour comic page centre spreads on anything that doesn’t fit their sensibilities
ReplyDeleteI think DCT were relying on the UK press going overboard, McS, and the resulting publicity was something they were counting on. The press likely knew this and decided to play along - it's a story after all. However, the characters have had these names for decades, they're not real people, and - well, fat people are fat and are always going to be called fatty or some such similar name. (And I'm speaking as someone who's at least a couple of stone overweight.) It could be argued that Smiffy is making fun of 'intellectually challenged' kids, Plug is making fun of ugly kids (the less-than-beautiful are sometimes referred to as Plug), and you could go on forever trying to find things to object to in comics (and elsewhere).
ReplyDeleteI'd say it's more a case of the 'woke' brigade changing things that don't fit THEIR sensibilities. Dennis isn't a menace anymore and Walter isn't a softy. What's wrong with these people? Speaking of Dennis, I couldn't swear to it, but I think I pointed out in a blog post that it seemed like DCT were suggesting that the current Dennis was the son of the Dennis WE knew before DCT confirmed it. However, it was Dennis's original parents who had Bea, and how would that explain Gnasher & Gnipper? The continuity is a mess, requiring intellectual gymnastics when trying to make any kind of sense out of it.
The Beano of the '50s and '60s was far funnier and more entertaining than just about anything the comic contains today.
I agree 100% that the Beano of the 50s to 60s was classic humour and perhaps of its tine . But I would still have Dennis etc being wild and the adults getting splattered etc just rejigged slightly for modern kids Today's artists must feel restricted in what they can do write/draw.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'd say that some of them ARE restricted, McS, because DCT are telling them to draw Dennis like the cutesy TV version (where he talks like a girl), and giving them all sorts of other daft directions on how to draw things. The Beano used to have a unique, 'rough-hewn' look (think Davey Law), now it looks more like an IPC comic.
ReplyDeleteDennis the Menace has to be a problem.
ReplyDeleteA small misbehaving child shouldn't have to carry that title. It might damage his psyche
Possibly 'Dennis the Misunderstood' would be an alternative?
Or how about Dennis The Little B@st@rd, T47? That's probably what his dad calls him. (Well, it would be in real life.)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there was a TV version of Dennis but I watched an episode on CBBC last night. True, he's not the Dennis of old but I suppose it's a good thing that he's still famous enough to get his own TV series. How many 8 year-olds today know about Desperate Dan or Korky the Cat? I also watched the latest episode of Blue Peter to see what the modern show is like. It's much more zany and youth-oriented with four presenters who seemed barely out of their teens but as long as it appeals to the kids I suppose. I was glad to see that certain iconic things have survived like the ship logo, the Blue Peter badges, the theme-tune (though heavily disguised and re-mixed) and the pet dog (a beagle called Henry).
ReplyDeleteThat zaniness is what annoys me about presenters on kids TV shows nowadays, CJ. (Though it's been going on for a good few years now.) Chris, Val, John, Pete, & Lesley didn't patronise their youthful audience by talking down to them - they spoke in the same way that they'd speak to an adult audience. Now presenters are all uber-smiley and trying to be 'down wiv the kids'. Timmy Mallet has a lot to answer for.
ReplyDeleteDCT have, for a while now, stopped referring to Oor Wullie's pal as Fat Boab- he's just Boab these days. He's still a greedy get though.
ReplyDeleteI no longer read Wullie and the Broons, DS. The art is too repetitive from panel to panel, and DCT were stretching it sideways to fit the pages of The Sunday Post, though it was published the right dimensions in the books. I wish Ken Harrison still drew the characters.
ReplyDeleteI find that OW and the Broons have actually improved a bit in the last few years. There was a spell where DCT were shoehorning celebrities into the strips every week: I got bored of seeing Andy Murray, Lorraine Kelly or Ewan McGregor turning up, cracking one awful joke, then having one big close-up of them drawn in a different style to the main characters. Luckily they don't do that anymore. Although whoever draws them these days makes Maggie Broon look like she's living in 1949 rather then the slightly-glamorous look that she used to have.
ReplyDeleteThe current artist's name is Peter Davidson, DS, and I don't really like his style. I've seen action/adventure art by him that was very nice, but his Broons and Wullie strips are stilted and repetitive, and DCT stretches the art sideways to fill the dimensions of the Sunday Post. (Though it appears as drawn when reprinted in the books.) When Dudley D. Watkins and Ken H. Harrison drew the strips, they had different stances for characters within the same panel, but Davidson draws them all hunched in the same position. He's a competent but uninspired cartoonist, and lacks the magic of Watkins and Harrison.
ReplyDelete